WHILE several councils across the state have ventured to express that the Acknowledgement of Country preceding official ceremonies, meetings and various events have become overused, Southern Grampians Shire Council (SGSC) said it was committed to reconciliation and had no plans to scrap the tradition.

This came off the back of a Herald Sun article on Wednesday stating that SGSC mayor David Robertson thought even local Indigenous communities felt the Acknowledgment to Country was “overdone”.

Cr Robertson was quoted in the article as saying: “Especially when it comes to smoking ceremonies which are only supposed to be reserved for special occasions. It can lead to tokenism. What’s the purpose of doing it every day?”

In response to the article, SGSC chief executive, Tony Doyle said, “the mayor has never used the word ‘tokenism’ and is strongly aligned to Council’s position on reconciliation”.

Mr Doyle said there had been no conversation amongst councillors about discontinuing the Acknowledgement of Country. 

“On the contrary, Council has committed more this year to building relationships with Traditional Owners groups than ever before,” he said.

“There’s been a financial commitment in the budget to the development of the Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP), the recruitment of a First Nations’ engagement officer, and the establishment of the RAP working group.

“We’re working both internally and externally on improving education about our local First Nations’ stories and history, as well as appropriate acknowledgement and signage of culturally significant areas of our shire.”

Welcome to Country ceremonies are reserved for official openings and major events, with Council acknowledging Country at all Council meetings, community, and civic events as well as internal meetings.

Council’s Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) is in development, and it will work towards embedding meaningful engagement and acknowledgment practices within the community through the development of this plan.

Winda-Mara Aboriginal Corporation was approached for comment but was unavailable.